Tag Archives: Planes

Lionsgate will release the latest installment in its family friendly Wings franchise next Tuesday, July 8th. Wings: Sky Force Heroes is the follow-up to Lionsgate’s 2012 CG-film Wings. Ace and Colonel are both back in this latest installment. But unlike the franchise’s first flick, neither is a fighter jet. Colonel (voiced once again by Tom Skerritt) is a high performance biplane while Ace (voiced again by Josh Duhamel) is just as high tech as a double prop plane this time out. The return of the entire voice cast from the first film in the series is only one of the positives to this high flying, family friendly flick. Anyone that is familiar with Disney’s Planes franchise will appreciate that as with the previous Wings this latest installment bears its own story despite its close similarities to Disney’s franchise. That is the primary plus to this story. And last worth noting in this movie is its CG-based “animation” style. While the story is similar to that of Disney’s new Planes sequel, its look is more closely akin to Fox Searchlight’s 2005 movie Robots than any more recent CG-based movies. This includes Disney’s properties. All three of these factors together make Wings: Sky Force Heroes a good family friendly flick that’s worth at least one watch.

There’s no denying that Wings: Sky Force Heroes bears a distinct similarity in its script to that of Disney’s recently premiered Planes sequel Planes: Fire & Rescue. Despite the similarity in question, Wings: Sky Force Heroes does manage to establish its own identity separate from that of the previously noted movie. Rather than trying to make this movie into a sequel, the movie’s writing team—Harry Glennon, Mychal Simka, and Jordan Winsen—made it its own movie, complete with its own world. It just so happens that in this story’s case the two leads go by the same name as the leads in the first of the Wings franchise. Accepting that, it makes suspension of disbelief much easier in a case such as this. The ability of viewers to suspend their disbelief makes taking in the story much easier and more enjoyable.

The ability of the writers behind Wings: Sky Force Heroes to craft a story similar to yet dissimilar to Disney’s Planes: Fire & Rescue is central to the overall enjoyment of the story. Just as worth noting in the presentation’s success is the return of the entire lead voice cast from the original installment in the Wings franchise. This is one area in which Lionsgate has truly scored. Lionsgate has scored in this aspect in that Disney’s animated sequels (and sequels in general) rarely re-unite the cast from their predecessors. This means potentially entirely new casts must get to know one another. And that can hinder said sequels greatly. The chemistry developed between Duhamel (Transformers 1 – 3), Skerritt (Alien, Ted, Top Gun) and the rest of the Wings cast obviously carried over into this latest high-flying family friendly flick from Lionsgate. And because it did, the cast had no trouble interpreting the story’s script and working together. The end result was a movie loaded with plenty of family friendly content worth at least one watch.

The return of the complete voice cast from Wings and the ability of the writers behind Wings: Sky Force Heroes to craft a story that established the movie’s own identity both play integral parts in the success of this latest movie from Lionsgate’s Wings franchise. Last but not least of all worth noting about this direct-to-DVD feature is its animation. The movie’s animation sets it apart from anything that Disney, 20th Century Fox, and any other studio has churned out in recent years. It’s tough to tell one studio from another nowadays because it is all so cookie cutter. The closest comparison that can be noted with Wings: Sky Force Heroes is perhaps to Fox Searchlight’s Robots. As forgettable as Robots proved to be, few other studios if any have attempted a movie with a similar look since then. That serves to make the look of this piece stand out even more. That mostly original look to the movie combined with its cast and script come together to make Wings: Sky Force Heroes a truly fun, high-flying, family friendly film worth at least one watch. One thing is for sure, one watch will have spirits soaring just as high as the planes in the movie, given that chance.

Disney’s Planes is not as terrible as many critics (this critic admittedly included) had previously considered it to be. However, it is also not one of the year’s best. One has to take into account the comments made by co-writers Klay Hall and John Lasseter in the movie’s bonus material to fully appreciate what Planes actually offers audiences. Their comments play directly into the movie’s overall plot. The resultant effect is that Planes’ story comes across more as its own story and less of a rip-off of Pixar’s Cars. The end result is a movie with just enough heart to make it worth at least one watch.

Walt Disney Studios was lambasted by audiences and critics alike (this critic included) when the studio announced that it would be releasing a spinoff of Pixar’s hugely successful Cars franchise. The very fact that Disney would simply title the new spinoff Planes was to thank for that reaming of the studio. The instant reaction was to say that this movie was just Cars in the air. While it largely is that, the movie is also worthy of at least some defense. In its defense, the bonus features included in the movie’s new home release help it to earn at least a slight respect. Pixar head and Planes co-writer John Lasssetter discusses the movie in a sit-down interview. He explains in his interview that there had been a proposal to spin off Cars with a movie about trains. Yes, a movie about trains. All they would have needed were Steve Martin and someone to take the place of the late John Candy. Anyone that gets this reference should stand up and take a bow right now. Getting back on the subject, Lasseter explains wisely that a movie centered on planes instead of trains made more sense. He explains in his own wording that a movie on planes obviously gave more story options, which makes sense. That sentiment alone makes the movie more bearable.

Lasseter’s Planes co-writer Klay Hall is also interviewed in the movie’s bonus features. He explains in his bonus interview that the idea for a story centered on planes was largely thanks to his own late father being a Navy pilot. The result was a lifelong love for all things aerial. He explains in depth how his love for all things aerial led to the precise details used throughout the movie, too. He explains that he wanted to make the movie as factual as possible. And he did just that. Anyone that has ever watched the likes of the Red Bull Air Race World Series will appreciate the shots down the long axis of the planes during the qualifying sessions for the big round-the-world air race. They will also appreciate the technical jargon tossed about throughout the movie’s run time, which barely tops the ninety-minute mark.

The interviews with both Lasseter and Hall earn Planes a new respect that without which, it might not have earned. Also worthy of note is the plot behind this continuation of Pixar’s Cars franchise. The writing team of Lassetter, Hall, and Jeffery M. Howard have crafted in Planes, a standard underdog story complete with underlying romance subplot. This is not the first time that such a story has been done, just as Pixar’s Monsters University was hardly the first college based comedy ever crafted. In Planes’ defense though, it didn’t directly rip off either of the Cars movies. It actually does have its own story. To that extent, it develops even more its own identity. Add in the fact that comedian Dane Cook has proven that he can actually handle more mature—anyone that has seen Cook’s standup act understand how immature and boring he comes across as being—material, and Planes actually proves that it has not only its own identity, but also has heart. All of this being noted, Planes proves to be a movie that while hardly one of Disney’s best or even one of 2013’s best, is worth at least one watch with the family.